10-mile Lower Kuskokwim ice jam causes flooding, high water

Ice jammed extracurricular of Akiak, May 7, 2024. (From National Weather Service)

Early Wednesday morning, Akiak residents reported slow rising h2o and nan sound of moving ice. Tuluksak is experiencing what residents describe as immoderate of its “worst flooding” successful 10-15 years. A 10-mile-long crystal jam had been wedged beneath Akiak, which is nether flood advisory connected Wednesday.

Bethel Search and Rescue personnel Mark Leary joined nan RiverWatch squad connected their Tuesday aerial study of nan Kuskokwim.

“When that crystal starts moving, there’s going to beryllium a surge of water. All that h2o that’s backed up supra nan jam, it’s going to commencement coming down and commencement draining retired of nan scenery backmost into nan Kuskokwim truthful there’ll beryllium a surge of water,” Leary said. “How terrible it is astatine Akiak, we don’t know. Akiak has a batch of clip to prepare. They’ve been done this before. They’re a well-organized community. I think, you know, they’ll beryllium good.”

Above nan monolithic crystal jam, Tuluksak has been upgraded to a flood warning, wherever waters person filled up surrounding low-lying areas and person inundated parts of nan colony itself.

Breakup flooding owed to a monolithic crystal jam downriver is seen successful Tuluksak connected Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Courtesy Bethel Search and Rescue)

“On nan beforehand side, nan stream side, nan water’s going down. But connected nan backside water’s coming in,” Leary said. “ The h2o is continuing to creep up slow down them, coming successful down them, because nan onshore downstream of them is flooding and filling up pinch water.”

Julia Long is an emergency guidance master pinch nan State Emergency Operations Center. She besides joined nan May 7 RiverWatch flight. After assessing nan business successful Tuluksak, Long says it is still a waiting game, but that nan Tuluksak School tin service arsenic a shelter if homes yet request to beryllium evacuated.

“So I’ve been successful touch pinch nan National Guard, truthful everybody’s connected alert. The dump tract is inundated pinch water. So I’ve contacted nan DEC for thief pinch consequence connected that,” Long said. “The h2o supply, nan proviso pond has been inundated pinch water, truthful it’s abnormal nan community’s expertise to nutrient water, but nan h2o works itself is not damaged. We’ve sewage immoderate consequence measures successful place, and everybody’s connected alert, and we’re conscionable benignant of waiting to spot what nan h2o does.”

Communities downriver of Akiak and Tuluksak, namely Kwethluk and Akiachak, are besides waiting to spot what nan h2o does.

On Wednesday, nan RiverWatch squad will proceed to alert complete nan little Kuskokwim River, keeping a adjacent oculus connected nan business successful Tuluksak, and ensuring that downriver communities person nan astir up-to-date accusation available.

Find nan astir caller flood watches, warnings and advisories for nan region here.

Find photos from Tuesday’s RiverWatch flight here.

Breakup and flood-related accusation tin alteration quickly, and this article whitethorn beryllium updated to bespeak much existent information.

Share photos aliases observations pinch KYUK astatine 907-543-0223 aliases by emailing news@kyuk.org.